I stopped by Lowes today and think that I'm going to go with the Silver Lake. Which color did you go with Damelon? Pewter Basin or Gothic Suite? Going along with Big's statement that the sample looks really dark, I'd think that it was Gothic Suite, but the pictures on your first post look like a lighter gray. Maybe the lighting is affecting it?

It is definitely Silver Lake, Gothic Black. I had the same question looking at the sample. The pewter looked too gray. And the carpet looked too black in the small sample, but I think I saw a larger sample somewhere that showed that due to the Ups and Downs of how the carpet is cut, it definitely looks lighter and darker for the squares, even though it is all the same color. It does show crumbs and such pretty easily, but it's also just as easy to know when you vacuumed them up properly! I like it very much.

Oh and as far as that "Rocker gaming chair" Comment goes... don't buy those! My wife had several of them in her old movie room because she thought kids might like to sit in them. They didn't. And they were the most uncomfortable things to sit in ever. I'd rather sit on the floor.

Thanks for all of your help Big and Damelon! I really like the look of the carpet in your pictures, so if that is what the Gothic Black looks like when it's not just a small sample, I will be going with that.

Thanks for all of your help Big and Damelon! I really like the look of the carpet in your pictures, so if that is what the Gothic Black looks like when it's not just a small sample, I will be going with that.

Thanks again!

Anytime!

I'm still awaiting my sub amps to get returned. I talked to customer service last week and they said they were processed through RMA and arrived at the Canadian plant on the 14th. So hopefully the turnaround doesn't take a lot more time. I miss my movie room!

If you'll continue humoring me while I co-opt this build thread for my own personal project...

When I was planning, I seized up when it came to the stage and riser (stage because of design and riser because I want the chairs in the space first to get a "feel" for it). Instead, I've plowed on with the soffit and will have it wrapped - literally, in GOM - this weekend so my attention is turned back to the timing for stage/riser vs. carpet. Keep in mind, I have to have an inspection...

Should I get carpet now and do the inspection without a door, stage, and riser? Everything else is buttoned up and the inspection would be a finished ceiling, lighting, soffit, electrical wall plates, and no exposed building materials other than a coat of PVA primer on the drywall. For all intents and purposes, it'd look "complete" minus the door.

I keep reading about building the stage/riser with moisture issues in mind, so why not build them after the inspection, on top of the carpet, and kill two or three birds with one stone? Technically, the stage and riser would be no different than heavy pieces of furniture that kill the carpet. Right? Since this is the room's only use during my occupancy, I'm cool with that.

I keep reading about building the stage/riser with moisture issues in mind, so why not build them after the inspection, on top of the carpet, and kill two or three birds with one stone? Technically, the stage and riser would be no different than heavy pieces of furniture that kill the carpet. Right? Since this is the room's only use during my occupancy, I'm cool with that.

What birds are you killing by running the carpet under the stage and riser? Use roofing felt.

What birds are you killing by running the carpet under the stage and riser? Use roofing felt.

I can see his point of just finishing a normal looking room and getting it inspected and then adding the stage and riser. I don't see why you couldn't do it, but it will cost you more for carpet which will be pretty much ruined under the stage and riser. I've never actually thought about them as "add ons" before but I sort of agree with BIG that you don't really kill two birds by doing it that way. You're technically just adding more work and spending more money.

Now, on the other hand, if you are doing it to finish the room as sort normal room, where you can remove the stage and riser in the future and turn it into a normal room without physically ripping out things, well then it makes a little more sense.

When I saw "Bacon Race Theater", I had to click. I lived in that neighborhood when I was in high school, back in the days before the PW Parkway was built.

That's a beautiful build. If you ever do any meet and greets, I'd love to drop by and see it.

Yeah, anyone who has even driven by it and seen the name of the road never seems to forget it. It's a funny and unique name. I know I lived in Fairfax before both the FFX Co or PW Co parkways were built, and it's hard to imagine either place without those roads now.

The wiring in this picture, it passed inspection? What electrical boxes did you use?

Those are "on wall" metal electrical boxes. You can get them at any hardware store. I didn't do any of the wiring until after the drywall was up. It all went inside of the columns and soffits, which were all done afterwords. The wiring on the front wall ended up being behind the 2" cotton insulation padding. I never technically had the room inspected.

As long as the cable is not subject to physical damage the installation is fine. Certainly in the columns it is not subject to damage. Behind 2" of cotton... maybe...

It's a judgement call, but given it's behind the screen wall I think a good case could be made for it not being subject to damage.

Everything is AFCI protected now (or should be ), so we can all sleep well.. AFCI trips if you look at it funny.

Tim

Pretty much everything he said. I have finished a whole basement before in my other house, did all of the inspections and learned all of the codes for it. Then helped my now wife to pass her inspection in her basement when she was finishing it. So I knew the rules when I built this theater and made the choices I made, I just didn't want to go through the time and effort, plus the increased property taxes for additional finished living area, of inspections.

However, the biggest concern is with insurance in my book. I finished my 4th basement now, and I will admit that this last time was the first time with permits and inspections. We got burned a little bit when we sold our last house that we couldn't legally list the finished basement square footage, so even though we had more total finished sqft than a competitor, we looked (on paper) to be smaller and missed some opportunities.

Also, when we bought our current house just over a year ago, the lender and insurance company both said that any improvements to the inside of the property needed permits and inspection. Our insurance company also said that exterior improvements did too (fences, deck, etc).

Otherwise we wouldn't be covered in case of an accident, fire, poor plumbing, structural fault, etc.

The 1st basement finish wasn't the greatest fit/finish, but the core electrical and framing was solid and to code. I've always gotten up to speed on the current federal codes, AND local codes for the time.

Yes, that meant running metal conduit for any electrical wiring not *inside* a finished wall too. For me, it was just in my storage area, but it does make sense.

Not criticizing, just commenting from personal experience.

Of course, getting permits also means that my county will get the finished sqft number and what the rooms consist of (bedroom, finished storage closet, office, full bath, game room, wet bar, family room, home theater, and unfinished storage)... All so that they can reassess my house and charge more for taxes....

However, the biggest concern is with insurance in my book. I finished my 4th basement now, and I will admit that this last time was the first time with permits and inspections. We got burned a little bit when we sold our last house that we couldn't legally list the finished basement square footage, so even though we had more total finished sqft than a competitor, we looked (on paper) to be smaller and missed some opportunities.

Also, when we bought our current house just over a year ago, the lender and insurance company both said that any improvements to the inside of the property needed permits and inspection. Our insurance company also said that exterior improvements did too (fences, deck, etc).

Otherwise we wouldn't be covered in case of an accident, fire, poor plumbing, structural fault, etc.

The 1st basement finish wasn't the greatest fit/finish, but the core electrical and framing was solid and to code. I've always gotten up to speed on the current federal codes, AND local codes for the time.

Yes, that meant running metal conduit for any electrical wiring not *inside* a finished wall too. For me, it was just in my storage area, but it does make sense.

Not criticizing, just commenting from personal experience.

Of course, getting permits also means that my county will get the finished sqft number and what the rooms consist of (bedroom, finished storage closet, office, full bath, game room, wet bar, family room, home theater, and unfinished storage)... All so that they can reassess my house and charge more for taxes....

Wow, that's really messed up that a competitor would do that! I've never heard of anything like that before, and my wife, being a high volume real estate agent has told me ALL of the stories! There doesn't seem to be any rules in our state about what goes on tax records vs what you can list for your bedrooms/bathrooms, etc. The only rules I know about is that you cannot list something as a bedroom unless it has a window (for escape), a closet (for clothing), and doors. Usually I think agents get "finished sqft" from tax records, but I've seen houses before listed on 3 different websites that have 3 different numbers for finished sqft. Usually, you NEVER count basements in a home's SQFT calculation. They consider everything above ground to be the official "built" SQFT or living space, and then just have a box that says "Finished Basement? Yes/No/Partial" Using a basement's SQFT in the home's number is a deceptive to a buyer, but again, no one really polices that, someone would just know as soon as they saw the place that the number is wonky. Was this in Iowa that this happened to you? It's so strange to me how different some states are sometimes.

Of course it is a judgement call of risk/reward on inspections. For me personally, having USAA, they just asked me questions about my house, and then sent someone to do a walkthrough and verify what I had and to make a valid "appraisal rebuild" price. They even told me after seeing a partially finished basement to just give them a call if I made any changes and they would adjust the amount. On my last house they adjusted it before my final inspection took place so I know they didn't look it up from tax records. In my case, my insurance was changed when my theater was finished and it is now covered , so I'm good there. Now the real issue would be if a fire started in an area of your home which was not properly inspected with permits, in which case, you may be in for a big pickle!

I read my updated state's code documents as BIG and I verified a couple of things during our planning phase. As for your wiring and conduit issue, they would have never passed me on a pre-drywall inspection since before the drywall went up I had no wiring at all. (As it was to all go in the room through the soffits and down columns, etc) Pre-Drywall, an inspection would expect to see gang boxes every 12' apart on the wall, within 6' of a doorway, etc. Of course at the time of pre-drywal, I would have had no gang boxes. I could tell the inspector I would be putting it in the soffit, and doing everything properly, but the inspector who comes for final inspection wouldn't be able to see it and think it was done pre-drywall, and the pre-drwall inspector wouldn't be able to see it since it is post-drywall. Yet I didn't want to put holes for 20 gang boxes in my drywall. So, basically I had to forgo inspections to do this. I would never tell someone to do something without an inspection, I just wanted to do my theater just-so.

I'm re-posting my "Leftovers" with a new policy. First come, first serve, free of charge on all remaining materials. In two weeks, I will throw out anything not taken.

I have 3 pieces of 2" thick OC703 at 2' x 4'
I have 17 pieces of 1" thick 3lb dense cotton at 2' x 4'
I have 7 pieces of 2" thick 3lb dense cotton at 2' x 4'
1 have 1 small unopened roll of cotton insulation (used in my soffits)

I also have about 17 feet (give or take a couple of feet) of the red "Claret Accent" GOM on a spool.

There is also a bunch of random scattered pieces of wood, MDF, and fiberglass insulation which you may pick through.

This weekend, next weekend, or any evening in between. If you are local to Northern Virginia, and can stop by and pick up materials, you can have them. Otherwise, the dump will get them! I am not going to spend any time shipping them, so I am sorry to any of you who could use this stuff and are not local.

Of course, if for some reason BIG decides he wants any of it and lets me know, he will automatically take precedence.

BIG to the rescue! After months of it sitting around my house, I thought it could find a better home. Who knows, even if BIG takes it, it could end up in your house when you hire him to help you! (HINT HINT)

So I finally got an email from a guy at Axiom's plant and he says my subs should ship out by tomorrow. Once everything is finally put back together and working, would anyone have any interest in a NOVA "come see my theater" type of thing? Keep in mind I only have 7 "seats" and stuff but if there is interest we could coordinate something offline. No idea when yet.